From Wikipedia:
The “Miracle on Ice” is the nickname given to a February 22 medal-round men’s ice hockey game during the 1980 Olympic Winter Games, in which a team of amateur and collegiate players from the United States, led by coach Herb Brooks, defeated the Soviet Union 4-3.
From History.com:
In one of the most dramatic upsets in Olympic history, the underdog U.S. hockey team, made up of college players, defeats the four-time defending gold-medal winning Soviet team at the XIII Olympic Winter Games in Lake Placid, New York. The Soviet squad, previously regarded as the finest in the world, fell to the youthful American team 4-3 before a frenzied crowd of 10,000 spectators. Two days later, the Americans defeated Finland 4-2 to clinch the hockey gold.
3 Comments
February 22, 2008 at 3:05 pm
4 years later the US team did absolutely nothing…. I had the unfortunate experience of working for one of those 1984 US Olympians that failed to live up to the acheivements of their 1980 predecessors – he was, and probably still is, a right bastard. Hope he watched the Kurt Russell film this week and had his failure haunt him once again.
At the end of the movie, Brooks is quoted as saying that since Dream Teams are now the norm, all that has happened is that the chance to dream has now gone from the Olympics. Very true.
February 22, 2008 at 4:29 pm
There are always the X Games…
February 22, 2008 at 5:13 pm
Only because it’s related to the topic, I’d like to quote the foreword to the great book, The “Late Night With David Letterman” Book of Top Ten Lists.
And yes, I did say it was a book of some of their great Top Ten Lists. One of my personal favorites (whenever the category comes up):
TOP TEN CHRISTMAS MOVIES IN TIMES SQUARE
10. Hot Buttered Elves
9. Santa’s Magic Lap
8. Babes in Boyland
7. Crisco Kringle
6. Yes, Yes, Oh God Yes, Virginia
5. Ninja Reindeer Killfest ‘88
4. Not-So-Tiny Tim
3. Santa Goes ‘Round The World
2. The Nutcracker Swede
1. I’m Not Rudolph; That’s Not My Nose
Copyright 1990 by National Broadcasting Company, Inc., and Cardboard Shoe Productions, Inc. Used without express permission, but under Fair Use Standards for purposes of commentary. And if they don’t like that, too bad! It’s funny and I wanted to share it with my friends. (I could have read it to them over the phone, so I don’t see how I violated any copyright laws.)